Alouette, gentille alouette, Alouette, je te plumerai.

I have a solution to the growing obesity epidemic.  Provide people with means to acquire and house food animals,  then provide instruction and guidance to kill and eat their own meat.  If someone really likes McChicken sandwiches or KFC, it might be worthwhile to grow, kill, prepare and eat your own chicken to really appreciate what's on the plate in front of you.

I am not being facetious.

Warning: details about 'processing' animals after the jump.

It is done.

With Mooshum by my side and Laur in tow, today I set about the business of processing meat birds.

I have inserted a jump here in case you do not wish to read any further.

Busy Beavers

Yesterday was a busy day in the rain.  I rented the wood splitter and made a big dent in all those logs at the top of the logging road.

This pile represents five front-end loader loads of wood.

Chickee Lickee Chooks

Baby Buff Orpington - Hillary - named after Sir Edmond Hillary because (s)he likes to be the one on top of the rock in the water dish.  I wasn't able to get a decent shot of the bigger Buff Orp.

Chook, chook, chookie!

We picked up our meat birds on Tuesday. Despite my trepidation, all of them have made through the first couple of days with resounding success.

Happy Pi Day!

I stopped by Charlie's feed store today to change my Meat King chicken order.  I'd originally thought it would be a good idea to take delivery of the chicks in intervals.  That way I wouldn't feel overwhelmed with my first experience at processing time.  But I'd spread the deliveries way too far apart and Kookum raised a good point - better to take them all at once and have one big batch under a heat lamp than to take three smaller bunches and pay for three months of heat-lamp electricity.